My White Lotus (ZhanYi)

2. The wedding

A light music danced in the air. Cool breeze caressed the decoration flowers. The auspicious wedding venue is supposed to be pleasant. But...

But the atmosphere seems tensed for more than half an hour without the presence of the bride. The guests started to murmur among themselves. Xiao Zhan tapped his feet impatiently on the altar, feeling bored to stand there alone for all these while. His long legs started to hurt due to standing there continuously and he glared at his parents who had cold sweats by then.

Jiyang, his licentious friend, made an air sound to get his attention. He was standing near the altar. Zhan tilted his head to look at him and Jiyang mouthed "where is the bride". He simply shrugged and turned around. How he is supposed to know that?

The MC sweated profusely to drag the welcome speech and to entertain the guests but the crowd already guessed that something is wrong. Zhan yawned without attracting other's attention, just like the priest who is supposed to bless their wedding. He sighed.

In less than a few minutes he saw the Chauffer of his bride came running as if he was chased by a group of wasps. He approached the Xiao parents, said something and bowed ninety degree. They looked shocked and enraged. Xiao Zhan guessed the wedding was cancelled. It was confirmed when his father came to address the guests to apologise for their inconvenience on attending the cancelled wedding.

Soon the auspicious wedding venue turned as a condolences Zone. Some pitied him for the cancellation of the wedding and some laughed behind his back. Nevertheless he felt nothing. He stood there with a stoic face.

Some others even find it as a perfect chance for them to introduce their daughter or sister to the Xiao family. Who wouldn't like to be a part of the the Xiao family; one of the richest firms? Not to mention the honour to be the spouse of one of their heirs. As long as they can replace the bride, they won't even care about the reasons behind the cancellation of marriage. In a situation like this, it's easy to get another marriage alliance. The Xiao family must be enraged and they would like to have revenge too.

And the rumours...
It flew faster than a rocket.

According to the rumour-mongers, the wedding is cancelled because of the bride's illegitimate relationship and in another story, the one who have an illegitimate relationship is Zhan himself. They even told that he have a son in secret!

Zhan had enough of standing there in the middle of the crowd  as a point of attraction. By the corner of eyes, he saw his parents talking to the guests and then his mother looked at him, feeling sorry. She was about to come to him but before she could reach beside him, he walked out calmly.

He looked at Li Huang, the loyal bodyguard of Xiao family who was working for them even before the birth of Zhan. Li Huang don't need verbal orders to know what they want, a gesture is enough. He nodded at Zhan and passed his message instantly to another one. Within seconds, the wedding ride waited him outside. But before he could go, his hand was grabbed from behind by the first born of Xiao twins; Xiao Cheng.

"Zhan?"

He called. Zhan looked at him. Instead of the perpetual grumpy face of him, Zhan could see concern in those eyes.

"I won't be home today."

Zhan said calmly and walked out in a hurry before the latter can utter another word or console him. Cheng intended to chase after him, but Wang Mei; his wife, grabbed his hand and shook her head in denial. He let out a sigh and decided to leave Zhan alone. It would be better if he sort out his emotions alone. Maybe he wanted to cry, Cheng thought. 

It is an unpleasant thing that the second heir of Xiao family remaining unmarried while his twin, older by two minutes is already married to the love of his life, two months ago. Watching Zhan leaving alone in his wedding ride, Cheng hugged his wife by shoulders, feeling an uneasiness churning in his chest thinging about Zhan.

Meanwhile Zhan entered inside the wedding ride, sat comfortably and nodded to the chauffeur through the mirror. The chauffeur nodded back and the engine came to life. He knew where he have to stop it next.

The ride came far away from the wedding venue. Zhan let the wind get inside through the windows. He looked out and finally grinned.

🔹🔹🔹
12/08/2023